Author's Note: This is an old oneshot, not too old, but not exactly very recent. But appropriately, this is my first Sonic fan fiction ever, and first fan fiction period in a long while, so it would definitely help if I got some feedback on this one. For those Elise-bashers who are reading this for no reason at all but to flame me afterward, at least try to get past the SonElise tone and tell me what you thought of the writing. I'm looking to grow as an author, not debate which Sonic couple is the best...
Enjoy!
A princess' life is soft and cushy, they say. Free from worry, free from fear, free from everything. Because they're powerful and wealthy and have everyone to help them.
What a lie that was. Perhaps in other kingdoms it was that way, perhaps in every other kingdom it was that way, but it most certainly wasn't that way in Soleanna, the City of Water. Certainly a sad fact for the princess Elise, even sadder due to the fact that only she seemed to know. What with her losing her parents at such a young, tender age… her responsibilities were endless and the stress continuously piled on day after long, dreary day. There was no peace in her world, even though there had never been a war since she'd been alive, and the problems just seemed to keep getting worse. Things should have been easy… but they weren't.
It was all of these problems swarming angrily around her that made her truly appreciate how soft her bed was or how her room was always lit just the right, calming way, a soft amber in the dark of night. She lay awake at night, desperately willing her eyes to close and sleep to come grace her with its presence; there were even times where she wished it would stay with her forever, that she'd never wake from it to another long day of being a princess.
Sure, it sounded depressing, but she wouldn't expect anyone to understand this wish in the first place. It was easiest to start with this simple fact: that when she slept, she dreamed. And when she dreamed, he was there. Often, that was where she lost people. Who was he? Why did he haunt her dreams like a phantom? And to top it all off, she could never provide an answer, because she didn't know.
Now she knew him; that much was evident. During his first appearance, there was much more than familiarity with which they greeted each other, spoke to each other. It was more like a type of intimacy, of closeness. And even though it had disturbed her when she awoke, another part of her… even now, she couldn't find the words to describe the feeling. It was comfortable in a way, and uncomfortable in another. Like she just couldn't decide how to feel about it inside, resulting in the antithesis of her emotions.
The feeling was still there in her other dreams with him, but when she became increasingly aware that she did know him, that she had met him before, sometime, somewhere, it had begun to take shape, to mold into something she was more familiar with: care. This kind of care, though, was different than the care she regarded her citizens in. No, it was a closer type of care than that; something more along the lines of friendship or even affection.
Not only that, but whenever he came into her dreams, smirking and strolling as if on top of the world, all worries of the real world dissipated and all she thought about was how grand it was to be with him, even if they weren't doing anything impressive. The overwhelming peace of her dreamland was never so potent without him; every so often she'd have a dream where he was absent and wake up feeling even worse than when she had gone to bed.
Of course she knew him; but how? She would most certainly remember if she had ever encountered anyone quite like him in her lifetime. Any princess would remember the face of someone who spoke to her in such a casual and nonchalant manner as if they had no clue that they were royalty. And even if his attitude didn't give him away, there was no way on Earth she could ever forget those eyes of his, a glorious gleaming green that glinted in the glow of the sun. Not to mention, he wasn't even human; surely a cobalt hedgehog would stand out in one's memory, wouldn't he? Try as she might, she could never recall a meeting with this amazing hedgehog, and it frustrated her so as he seemed to know everything about her. To not be able to put a name to this magnificent creature who eased the burden off her shoulders as easily as if it didn't exist was a terrible shame indeed.
Even greater a shame was the doubt she had in him. It just didn't seem possible that she could have met him, this hedgehog, this fantasy-dweller. Once or twice, she had the idea that her mind had fabricated this illusion in order to relieve her stress, that he was no more than a dream with no other meaning than that she was tired. But it couldn't be so; it also wasn't possible for the feelings that stirred inside of her when they chatted lazily in a green meadow, when they raced at unreachable speeds through a majestic forest, when they were with each other to be based on nothing more than an idea. No, there was something real behind it all; there just had to be!
As she lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, begging angrily for sleep to hurry on its way, she contemplated these feelings that were mixing with the excited butterflies in her stomach. It probably wouldn't help much for her to think so hard if she planned to lose it all in her dreams, but her mind couldn't help but wander into these depths of thought. It was all too confusing, these feelings, these dreams, and that was the last thing she needed to add onto her already-monstrous pile of worries. And since sleep obviously wasn't coming anytime soon, she was stuck with these worries for quite a while. Sighing, she slowly got out from under the covers, unlocked and opened the windowed door to the balcony, and stepped out into the fresh, crisp air of late winter, shivering lightly as a breeze greeted her.
Still, despite the wintry cold, she smiled to herself and relished the feeling as another breeze brushed past her. Ever since her birthday ceremony, something about the wind had aroused a similar effect in her as the dreams did. Something calming and soothing and comforting, and once again that sense of familiarity she and the dream-based hedgehog shared. She couldn't help wondering if they were related in some way; but once another breeze trickled past, the thought was gone and she was lost in the sensation of her friend the wind.
Her friend the wind had a voice as well, it seemed. Every so often, she'd hear it, and wonder if it was all in her head, and in the end, it all probably was, but nevertheless, it was a good thing to hear: "Smile, Elise. Just smile." And she did, and she always did, whether she was in the mood or not. Because believe it or not, she just couldn't say no to the wind's kind and gentle command, for that was most certainly what it was. It wasn't a request, it wasn't a suggestion, he was telling her directly to smile. And it was a strange command, with his soft tone and caring message, but she listened, and it always made her feel better.
Now, with her heart fluttering in the gentle wind, her entire body lighter than air, and the thoughts in her mind muted, she understood something about the hedgehog and the wind. This epiphany couldn't be any plainer, couldn't be any more clear, and yet she had never so much as touched the truth before her mind went numb just then and there. The fact that she had danced around it for so long without realizing this evaded her senses completely and if she cared about anything else right now, she would have been ashamed of herself. But the fact was simple: she loved him. The wind's caress, the hedgehog's voice, everything about him was magnificent to her, every part of her tingled when she imagined the next time she encountered him in her dreams. In fact, if she wasn't so at ease with this feeling, she'd be even more sad than she'd ever been; to have such emotion for what could very well be her mind's personification of a mere force of nature? Depressing! Pathetic!
And yet she smiled on, because the wind was still whispering to her, and his voice was still ringing clearly. Whatever he was, he was real, real to her, and perhaps real to the world. She refused to believe she had unconsciously created such a brilliant character on her own, that these feelings had sprouted from a mere fantasy. And so she hoped and wished and prayed that someday she'd find this hedgehog again, that the wind would stop speaking in whispers and coming in wisps, that the dreams would stop coming only at night, and that she'd one day be able to put a name with the handsome, grinning face of his that lifted her high above the ground.
The wind came again in one last whisper before she turned to return to her bed and possibly to a night of sweet dreams made only sweeter by this realization. As he hugged her good-bye, he told her to smile, and she did.